Integrated environmental diagnosis of the Puyo River basin, Ecuador

The use of combined methods for the integrated environmental diagnosis of watersheds, based on basic information and satellite images, is an efficient alternative mainly for basins lacking information, such as those of a mountainous. That is the case of Puyo watershed on the Ecuadorian Amazon, given the interest generated by the increase of anthropic activities, including pollution. The methodology combines methods of geoecology of landscapes, chemical compositions of groundwaters and erosion hazard, supported by GIS to perform the integrated environmental diagnosis of the watershed. The results advise that there are highly altered landscape units, located in areas that should have special attention, given that they correspond to mountain areas and with a decline of water quality, due to the strong pressure of anthropic activities.